


Printing Hell

by justlikedaylightsavingstime



Series: Hell Of An Exam Season [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cake, Cuddling, Essays, Exams, F/M, Fluff, Gabe is a twat, Gabe is the reader's guardian angel, Gen, I swear printers are the bain of my life, M/M, Reader-Insert, Studying, Titanic - Freeform, and pie, but could kinda be seen as romantic if you squint, but that's not always a good thing, gender neutral reader, including Balthazar focused Titanic joke, it's pretty much platonic, lots of cake, particularly if you don't like cleaning up his messes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 10:28:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3933331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlikedaylightsavingstime/pseuds/justlikedaylightsavingstime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reader has a last minute panic printing an essay (or any other piece of work that requires a deadline should fit). Gabriel steps in to be the rather unappreciated knight in shining armor. Lots of fluff, but Gabe’s still a bit of a dick.</p><p>Based off this imagine: <a href="http://supernaturalimagine.tumblr.com/post/105931036542/anonymous">Imagine Gabriel trying to cheer you up by conjuring your favorite desserts. </a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Printing Hell

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first in a series of one shots focusing on different characters entitled ‘Hell of an Exam Season’. The title's pretty self explanatory, but basically it's just lots of fluff that I thought I'd write since this is my last exam season and it's a good way to get my mind off work. I'm totally open to prompts if you've got them.
> 
> This one is written in honor of my essay writing a couple of weeks ago (one piece I literally handed in without a minute to spare) and my continual battle with printers and chronic procrastination.
> 
> I guess in terms of warnings, there's a lot of focus on exam stress and some serious cake eating and gluttonous behavior. There's also a lot of self-confidence issues and feelings of guilt and nasty comments towards themself displayed by the reader at the start.
> 
> (Also, holy Castiel on high, why on earth did I let this fic get so big?)

Another high pitched screech and you were almost ready to scream. By the skin of your teeth, you managed to prevent yourself from shaking the printer until it broke into a million pieces (or possibly just launching it across the room). You angrily started to slam your fingers against the buttons, the adrenaline and anxiety building up in your stomach like a set of vicious vampire butterflies.

Why did you always do this to yourself. You were a stupid horrible person, who wasn’t even capable of finishing in enough time to print it out. Pleading with the printer you rushed straight back over to the computer, pressing keys as fast as you possibly could (almost having a heart attack when the mouse stuck for a second). Fingers crossed, that had to work. And yet there the stupidass computer was, blinking it’s fucking useless little light and letting out yet another ridiculous beep.

“No, no, no, no, NO!”

There was no way on earth you were going to get it in on time. The most important piece of work you’d ever done and it was all going up in flames. Not to sound dramatic, but your heart was beating about twelve times as fast as it normally did, practically pounding out of your chest. Your life as you knew it was gonna be over, everything you’d ever planned and work for. Done. Finished. At least if the dickhead of a printer didn’t get its act together.

You’d been amazed you’d even managed to type something out in the first place with all the guardian angel shit you’d been going through recently. If anything was geared to mess with your head it was gonna be finding out that you had weird powers which came complete with a guardian angel. An annoying guardian angel who constantly smelt like pancakes and loved to make your life as hellish as possible with his practical jokes. Just what everyone needs.

But regardless, you’d managed to get this horrible thing written, powering through all of Gabe’s little pranks, and now the printer was trying to sabotage all your hard work. You didn’t realize that you’d started praying, or more like begging, to anything out there that might be listening. This was your last chance, the absolute last chance before the entire thing was officially tits up. 

The sick feeling built in your stomach as you lifted up the hood of the printer, checking that everything was in the right condition. Your hands were actually shaking as you bounced up and down in your panic. Slamming the hood back down you found your anger splining over into cursing as you brought your fist down against it. Damnit. You were so engaged in the action, and so wound up that you completely missed the flutter of wings behind you before you heard an all too familiar voice ring out behind you. “Careful, … what did that poor machine ever do to you.”

Wonderful. Bloody fucking wonderful. Just what you needed right now. God’s cockiest angel adding into the mess that constituted your life.

“Really not in the mood right now, Gabe. What do you want?” Gritting your teeth together you couldn’t bring yourself to turn and face him, your hair brushing against your face as you leant your head forward in defeat.

You’d expected some kind of jibe, or at least for him to keep pushing. You’d learnt the hard way to be wary when he was using his teasing tone. It never ended well. Except the tone of his voice was anything but teasing. If you had to describe it you may even have said it was…concerned.

“Hey, hey, cupcake, what’s wrong.” The atypical concern in his voice was enough to have you shocked, but when his hand closed on your shoulder you couldn’t help but jerk with surprise.  
And apparently that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Every last bit of the tension and frustration you’d been bottling up came pouring out in what could only be described as angry tears. Soft arms encased you, pulling you against Gabe’s chest. Your brain must have completely stopped functioning as you bonelessly collapsed against him, hands fisting in his shirt as you buried your head in his shoulder. The feel of hands running down your arms and across your back was nothing short of heavenly.

You’d lost control of your voice, which was babbling away without permission. Every all-consuming thought of failure, self-hatred and panic came pouring out. You weren’t even sure it was decipherable English, but Gabe seemed to at least understand the gist of it if the soothing ‘ummhms’ were anything to go by.

It was only as he pulled back that you began to realize that you’d spent the best part of five minutes sobbing on the most obnoxious angel heaven had to offer. Not to mention the one that you had been avoiding since you’d found out he was your ‘guardian angel’. Oops.

As you finally quieted down, Gabriel started to speak. “You seem rather like a damsel in distress, and you know what every damsel in distress needs?”

“Well I’m certainly in distress.” You’d sobbed at him, “But I’m not so sure about the damsel thing.”

“That’s just as well, because I’m not much of a white knight. Although, kinda iffy guardian angel I can do. And it just so happens that that’s what every damsel in distress needs.”

You couldn’t help but grin at him a little at that, even as another wave of anxiety washed over you.

Before you had chance to ask why he was being so nice to you, he’d pulled away to jump up onto the table next to the printer. Very theatrically he raised his right pointer finger, bringing it down at a snail’s pace. The minute it touched the printer, the monster of a machine sprang into life with a creaking groan. 

After jumping at least a foot in the air, you could only watch as the bane of your existence (for once this apparently wasn’t Gabe) started spewing out sheet after sheet after sheet. You instantly rushed forward, your arms moving too slow to gather up the rapid fire flow of paper. Picking your way through handfuls of crisp paper, you eventually managed to collect together enough of the right pages to make up your paper. And yet the printer didn’t stop. The rumbling and the clunking continued. And continued. And continued.

There was nothing else to do but blink at Gabe in a way that didn’t broadcast your annoyance. The snarky little archangel can smell irritation from a mile away, it’s essentially catnip to him. You’d been dealing with him for long enough to have perfected your ‘mom voice’. “I think the printer is finished now,” you little shit “you life saver,” you managed to grit out, not surprised in the least when the printer didn’t even pause in its task.

At that point you couldn’t see for the flurry of white around you, and it continued to flutter and float and swirl as it took over the room. Soon enough you were going to be trapped in place by a solid wall of paper. For god’s sake. 

“GABE!” As your voice floated round the room your eyes caught those of the self-satisfied angel. Of course he was smirking, you’d have expected nothing less. The thing that really pissed you off was that you generally found you just couldn’t stay mad at him when he gave his cheesy smile. It was nothing short of adorable. Not that you let him know that. The last thing that you needed was for your resident guardian angel to realize he had the means to wrap you round his little finger.

“I appreciate your help Gabe.” You surveyed the chaos around you, causing his grin to widen. “…I think. But it’s all utterly useless since I don’t have time to hand it in now.”

You instinctively took a step back as he slipped off the table, moving calmly towards you. The sense of ease that had drawn you There was only a cursory “hold on tight, sweetcheeks.” before he was pressing his hands down on your shoulders and making the entire world started spin.

As your brain finally caught up with your body, and your stomach had stopped trying to relieve itself of its contents, you realised that you’d ended up bent over with your head between your legs. Straightening up, you found yourself outside an all too familiar building. Surprise, and just the smallest smidgeon of hope, burst through the guilt and the anger that had been building up inside of you. Was it possible that Gabe had got you here in time to make up for your mess up?

He grinned at you again, nudging you forwards. Without wasting another second you rushed into the building to hand in the paper clutched in your hand. It only took a couple of minutes. You could practically feel the stress just roll off you as you came back outside. Slowly you stepped up to Gabe, wrapping your arms around him and mumbling your thanks into his shirt (and possibly allowing your tired and spaced out head to just enjoy the feeling of his cosy embrace).

“No worries, cupcake. This is exactly the kind of thing guardian angels are there for.” Gabe untangled himself, pushing you away for a second. You expected him to just zap off that second disappearing to go annoy someone else. You certainly weren’t expecting him to scoop you into his arms (you also might not have been expecting to make an ugly screeching noise either, but bad luck). Before you knew what was happening, your stomach was trying to settle itself and you were being thrown down on your couch.

“Now for the second thing guardian angels are there for. Providing our hard working charges with good wholesome sustenance. What will it be my fluffy little cupcake? Cake? Pie? Cheesecake? Chocolate cake? Or just chocolate. Mm no, strawberries and chocolate. Or blueberry tart, or a pecan Danish?”

Before you had chance to so much as open your mouth you found yourself surrounded by a sea of desserts. Each one winked tantalisingly at you. Whilst you were still ogling the gorgeous layers of cream and bright sprinkles Gabe had already started to dig in. It didn’t take you long to dive in and join him, moaning over every moist mouthful. You ate in companionable silence at first, just enjoying the richness of your chosen desert. But then Gabe decided that you just had to try the cherry pie, waving his fork around in front of your face until you got whipped cream all over your nose. In mock offense you repaid the favor, loving the bemused look on his face that was so reminiscent of Castiel. 

You ate and ate and ate. And then you’d talked, for what seemed like hours. You talked about anything and everything. Gabe new pretty much everything about you, it was kind of his job after all, but you were always pleased when you could surprise him with an offhand comment or a dirty joke. Even as you felt the time wearing on your spaced out brain and still taught nerves, you began to calm slightly. Particularly as you undid the top button of your jeans so you could squeeze just one more last piece of cake into your protruding stomach. Mmmmh. Sleepiness began to pull on you as you let the couch swallow you up, your mind drifting as you vividly pictured the unbelievable stories Gabe was telling you. Nothing was more blissful than this kind of mindless relaxing, particularly after the stressful day you’d had. And nobody could blame you for giggling at the llama wrestling story.

Whenever Gabriel noticed you starting to drift asleep he’d bring you back to life with a quick pinch (earning a light slap in response). Somehow the pair of you ended up sprawled out on the couch all cuddled up together. You were laid out on top of him, his arms wrapped around you like a warm blanket. It was glorious. You were so past it that you did little more than hum in agreement when he suggested watching a film. 

“What do you wanna watch?” He asked. You just sighed and settled back into his arms, much too sleepy and emotionally exhausted to do anything else.

“Whatever you want, Gabey.” That was one nickname that probably wouldn’t have popped out if you’d been in your right frame of mind.

“What about the Titanic, it has great memories for me and I know it’s one of your favorites?”

The next words tumble out of your mouth in the form of a yawn. “Sounds good to me.”

He magically materialised a DVD case, sending the disk towards the TV with his angel mojo so you didn’t have to move. “My little brother Balthy, well let’s just say he’s less than enthralled with the Titanic. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s his kryptonite. That’s why I stole a disk from this unsuspecting schmuck I’m watching over, and I’ve been paying his valet to keep playing it in Balthy’s room, jamming the system up with some mojo so it plays nonstop. It’s nothing less than pure art.”

You were too tired to ask about Gabe’s brother having a personal valet, or what exactly angels would use for currency, but you did manage to roll your eyes. You couldn’t help but feel pity for anybody who has Gabriel for a brother. Although your pity quickly turned to rage as your brain actually processed Gabe’s words. Particularly as you caught sight of the dent in the DVD box that clearly marked it as yours.

“That’s where my Titanic DVD went!” You growled at Gabe, yanking his cushion out from under him and battering him with it.

“Sorry, sorry. I forgot you were the schmuck!”

You settled back down again, this time ramming your elbow into his stomach for good measure. “God you’re such a dick!”

“Yeah baby, but whether you like it or not, I’m your dick.” He muttered as the opening credits rolled. You had no will to complain, particularly since he was so squidgy and comfy. The firm touch of Gabe’s hands in your hair enough to send your knackered body off to sleep almost instantly. It had been one ridiculously hard day, but at least you had a guardian angel to save your bacon, and he was exceptionally good at cuddling. You burrowed down further into his warm embrace, whispering ‘thank you’ so quietly only someone with angelic hearing could catch it

****

The next morning you woke with a bang as you were thrown to the floor with a jarring thud. Looking around you saw plate after plate after plate covered in half eaten goo and crumbs. The TV was happily buzzing along as static whilst the sun blinked through the curtains. It was only as you glanced back up at the couch (where you had apparently been sleeping) that you noticed a certain bright eyed angel looking back at you with a guilty grin on his face. “Sorry cupcake, I was trying to squeeze out without waking you up.”

“Well you did a bang up job of that!” You snorted, rubbing a hand across your face. You tried (and failed) to keep your eyes away from the flexing of his muscles as he stretched out the kinks in his shoulders. As he stood up, hand raised as if to say goodbye, you realized what he was doing.  
“Oh no no no, you’re going to help me…” with nothing more than his trademark teasing grin and cheeky wink he was gone “…clean up.”

With a sigh you stood up, surveying the carnage around you. This was going to involve a crazy amount of washing up, and you knew he was just winding you up. He could have the place clear in a matter of seconds. Twenty minutes later (and not even halfway through the mountain of plates) saw you planning out the horrors you were going to unleash on your guardian angel next time he deigned to drop in. Particularly when you caught sight of the decidedly empty spot where the Titanic DVD was supposed to be sitting. You might have a lot to thank Gabriel for, but that wasn’t going to stop you from texting the Winchesters to see if you could get Balthazar’s number and get some rightfully earned payback.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've got a prompt for the series (or for something else), then either leave a message her, or send me an ask on [Tumblr ](http://justlikedaylightsavingstime.tumblr.com), and I'll see what I can do. It may take me a few days, but I will definitely get round to it.


End file.
